Search engine optimization – SEO – is a set of practices that make a website more discoverable and credible to search engines, with the goal of growing rankings and organic traffic. Keyword research, site structure, content, and linking strategy all feed a well-built program. Of these, linking is one of the most consequential and the most misunderstood, so it’s worth being precise about the three link types and what each actually does for your authority.
Outbound (external) links
Outbound links point from your site to other websites. A common myth – repeated in the original version of this article – is that they do nothing for your SEO. Editorial correction: that is outdated. Linking out to authoritative, relevant sources is a normal quality signal; it adds value for readers and helps establish topical context and trust. The caveat is judgment: link to credible, relevant sources, not link farms, and the practice is a net positive, not a neutral one.
Internal links
Internal links connect pages within your own site, and they are the most under-used lever most stores control completely. A clean, logical internal structure with no broken links helps search engines crawl and understand your site, distributes authority to the pages you want to rank, and keeps visitors moving toward conversion. Descriptive anchor text and a deliberate hub-and-spoke structure (cornerstone pages linking to and from related articles) materially improve performance – and unlike backlinks, you can implement this today without anyone else’s cooperation.
Inbound links (backlinks)
Inbound links – backlinks – are other sites linking to yours, and they remain among the strongest signals search engines use to assign authority. When a credible site links to you, it vouches for you, and search engines weigh that endorsement heavily in rankings. They are also the hardest links to get, precisely because you don’t control them – which is what makes them valuable.
How to earn backlinks the right way – and what to avoid
The original version of this article mentioned that some businesses “trade or barter for backlinks” to speed things up. Editorial correction: link schemes – buying, trading, or exchanging links specifically to manipulate rankings – are against Google’s spam policies and can trigger ranking penalties. We do not recommend them, and a reputable SEO partner won’t either. The durable way to build backlinks is to earn them:
- Create genuinely linkable assets – original data, research, tools, definitive guides – content other sites cite because it’s the best reference available.
- Digital PR and outreach – pitch journalists and industry publications with something newsworthy or genuinely useful, so the coverage and links are editorial.
- Guest contributions – substantive articles on respected, relevant industry sites, where the link is contextual and the audience is real.
- Relationship building – partnerships, supplier and association pages, expert commentary – legitimate links that arise from real business relationships.
- Reclaim and fix – find unlinked brand mentions and broken links to your content and convert them; this is link equity you’ve already earned but aren’t capturing.
Earned links take time, which is exactly why they carry weight. A reputable eCommerce SEO process accelerates this through legitimate content and outreach – for example, publishing strong content off-site that naturally references your store – not through schemes that risk a penalty.
Quality over quantity
Not all backlinks are equal. One editorial link from an authoritative, topically relevant site outweighs hundreds of low-quality links from unrelated or spammy sources – and a pile of toxic links can actively hurt you. Evaluate prospective and existing links on relevance, the linking site’s authority and trust, where the link sits on the page, and the anchor text. A small, clean, relevant link profile beats a large, noisy one every time, and it’s also far safer.
How the three link types work together
These are not competing tactics. Internal links route the authority that backlinks bring into the pages that matter; outbound links to good sources build the topical credibility that makes your content link-worthy in the first place; backlinks supply the external authority the whole structure distributes. A program that only chases backlinks while neglecting internal structure is pouring water into a leaky bucket. The strongest results come from all three handled deliberately together, on top of solid keyword and content work.
How to evaluate your current backlink profile
Before chasing new links, understand the ones you have. A practical audit: pull your referring domains from a backlink tool, then sort them into three buckets. Assets – relevant, authoritative, editorial links to keep and build more like. Neutral – low-value but harmless directory or aggregator links, generally fine to leave alone. Risk – clearly spammy, irrelevant, or paid-looking links, especially with exact-match commercial anchor text in bulk. Google’s systems discount most low-quality links automatically, so disavowing should be reserved for genuine manipulation patterns, not used reflexively. The audit’s real value is direction: it shows which relevant, authoritative sites already link to you so you can find more sites like them, which is far more productive than starting cold.
How long backlink work takes – and why patience is the strategy
Set expectations honestly: earned links accrue over months, not days, and their ranking effect compounds gradually rather than appearing overnight. That slowness is a feature, not a bug – it is precisely why backlinks are hard for competitors to fake and why search engines trust them. The strategic implication is that link building should run as a continuous program (consistent linkable content plus ongoing outreach), not a one-time campaign. Merchants who treat it as a sprint and quit when results aren’t instant abandon the effort right before it compounds; the ones who treat it as a standing process are the ones whose authority pulls ahead and stays ahead.
Every eCommerce SEO company tackles this differently, and there is far more to a campaign than links alone – but earned, relevant backlinks are dearly won and commensurately valuable. Whatever platform your store runs on, 1Digital® Agency offers BigCommerce SEO, Shopify SEO, and SEO for other platforms, plus web design and development – and you can start with a free SEO audit. To learn more about our process and why backlinks matter, call our team at 866-219-1801.